Unmanned Vehicles

When I was reading over the draft small UAS regs and analysis that leaked out of the FAA over the weekend, I couldn’t help thinking … man, this feels like a breech birth assisted with a crowbar. For one thing, the timing caught the FAA off guard. Thanks to the wonders of the web, the […]

We test-fly DJI’s latest unmanned aerial vehicle, the Inspire. view on YouTube

The European Space Agency had a successful test of its unmanned mini-spacecraft Wednesday, launching theIntermediate eXperimental Vehicle and recovering it after splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The design of the IXV spaceplane, as the ESA calls it, will ultimately result in a reusable spacecraft. The big push now is to develop re-entry capability and data […]

The company that makes the drone that ended up on the White House lawn last week says it’s programming its products to be unflyable within a 15.5 mile radius of downtown Washington, D.C.”We are updating the no fly zones to include the D.C. metropolitan area in accordance with FAA guidelines,” said Michael Perry, spokesman DJI, […]

Last Sunday’s Cirrus ditching off Hawaii was so well documented via video that it has raised some interesting questions about how the CAPS system performed. Not the least of these was that seemingly interminable nosedown moment after the initial deployment. Did that take longer than it was supposed to? Not really, according to Boris Popov […]

The FAA reminded drone operators on Wednesday that the perennial Super BowlTFR (PDF) applies to them too, not just pilots of manned aircraft. The NOTAM, published earlier this month for Sunday’s Super Bowl XLIX in Glendale, Arizona, includes the standard restrictions of GA operations such as flight training and sightseeing as well as “model aircraft […]

I bet the Maalox was gurgling away at 800 Independence Ave. on Monday when the news broke that the Secret Service found an errant drone on the White House grounds. Fortunately, the impending blizzard that’s going to kill everyone in the northeast pushed the story below the fold, but I’m sure the FAA phones were […]

A drone pilot who fought a $10,000 government fine for filming video with an unmanned aircraft in 2011 has settled his case for $1,100 without admitting guilt, Bloomberg reported Thursday. Raphael Pirker, a Swiss citizen, flew a drone over the University of Virginia in 2011 to make a promotional video. In court, he challenged the […]

Drones carrying illegal drugs and contraband have been among the creative ideas used by smugglers, and crashes do happen from loss of control or perhaps weight-and-balance problems. An unmanned aerial vehicle with more than six pounds of methamphetamine taped to it crashed near the San Ysidro, California, border crossing to Mexico, The Associated Press reported […]

Unless you’re reading AVweb late Monday, by the time you read this Tuesday morning space launch history either will or won’t have been made. We ought to know for sure by about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. In case you haven’t been paying attention-and it hasn’t gotten much coverage-SpaceX is launching another of its robotic re-supply missions […]